19 more JN.1 cases found in India; rise in Covid variant cases

The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (Insacog) has discovered 19 sequences of JN.1, a descendant of BA.2.86 (nicknamed Pirola). 18 cases are from Goa, and one is from Maharashtra. 

The subvariant was initially found in Kerala a few days ago, and during the last nine days, India’s active case count of COVID-19 has more than doubled, rising from 938 on December 11 to 1,970 on Tuesday, December 19.

This subvariant was noted by experts, who thought it was the reason behind the increase in Covid cases in the US and other countries.

According to a senior member of the Indian Medical Association’s (IMA) Covid Task Force, JN.1 is the sublineage in Western countries that is expanding the fastest. These countries’ waste water surveillance programs have revealed incredibly high loads of this variant, which is indicative of the number of infections in the community.

According to a different expert, this usually occurs around ten days ahead of regional surges, but the effectiveness of testing for individuals exhibiting similar symptoms determines the number of cases that are found.

According to an Insacog official, the recent death in Kerala was caused by a confluence of pre-existing medical conditions in addition to Covid-19. The eighteen JN1 samples from Goa were isolated incidents from a single film festival. The Goa-Maharashtra border is where the Maharashtra JN.1 case was discovered. Consequently, JN1 is merely one of the numerous Covid variants that have emerged thus far. Thus far, there have been no clinical implications associated with it. They believe that right now there is nothing to be concerned about. India’s increasing number of Covid cases is a seasonal/winter phenomenon.

By Insacog, so far, a total of 20 JN1 sequences have been discovered. Of them, one each from Kerala and Maharashtra and eighteen from Goa.